Circuit-breaker.



W. J. LIETZENMAYER.

CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15, 1907.

Patented Sept. 12, 1911.

nJOLUMHlA I'LANOGRMII cu. WASHINGTON. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. LIETZENMAYER, OF WEBSTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ALLIS-CHALMERS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY, AND THE BULLOCK ELECTRIC MANU' FACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. LIETZEN- MAYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Webster, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Circuit-Breakers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates to electric switches and especially to automatic overload circuitbreakers.

In the automatic overload circuit-breakers now in general use the movable contacts have a reciprocating movement. This is the case whether they move rect-ilinearly or ourvilinearly. As the result of this kind of movement the circuit is made and broken at the same points in the switch so that the pitting of the contacts caused by the arcing which takes place on interrupting the circuit interferes with the proper making of the circuit on closing the switch.

It is the object of my invention to provide an automatic circuit-breaker in which the making and breaking of a circuit take place at different points of the switch, and further to limit the pitting caused by arcing to points not included in the circuit when the switch is in its normal closed position.

With this object in view my invention comprises the combination in a circuitbreaker, of fixed and movable contacts, a reciprocable arm and mechanical connections between said arm and said movable contact whereby reciprocation of the former produces unidirectional rotation of the latter. An overload magnet may control the circuit-opening part of such rotation.

Other features of my invention will ap pear from the description and drawing and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is a plan'view of a circuitbreaker embodying my invention, the cover being removed and the circuit-breaker in open position; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the switch in closed position, partially in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

A pin or shaft 10 extends from the base to the cover of the casing 11, which may be of any desired material. Fixed within the casing 11 is a substantially cylindrical Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 15, 1907.

Patented Sept. 12,1911.

Serial No. 368,185.

box 12 of insulating material, the walls and base of this box extending outwardly at one point as shown to form a blow-out chute 13 open at its outer end. The cover of the box 12 is formed by a disk 14 also of insulating material, and preferably with an enlarged inner part 15 to which is fixed a conducting ring 16. The ring 16 carries any desired number of laminated brushes, 17, 18 and 19, substantially equally spaced apart and each provided with a removable arcing tip 20. The brushes 17, 18 and 19 cooperate with stationary contacts 21 and 22 fixed in the walls of the box 12, the contact 21 being adjacent to the blow-out chute 13 and provided with an easily removable arcing tip 23. The disk 14 in conjunction with an additional piece of insulating material 24 forms the cover of the blow-out chute 13.

The disk 14 with its attached parts is rotatable on the pin or shaft 10. The periphery of the disk 14 is notched at 25, 26 and 27 the number of notches being equal to the number of brushes 17, 1S and 19. An arm 28 is loosely mounted on the pin 10 and is biased in a clockwise direction by a spring 29. The arm 28 carries a spring-pressed pawl 30 arranged to engage with the notches 25, 26 and 27 to form a pawl and ratchet connection between the arm 28 and disk 14 whereby movement of the former in a clockwise direction carries the latter with it. Another spring-pressed pawl 31 pivoted within the casing 11 and movable by an overload trip coil 32 or by a tripping knob 33, also cooperates with the notches 25, 26 ant 27 to prevent clockwise movement of the disk 14 and its attached parts to break the circuit save when an overload occurs or when the knob 33 is pulled out. The trip coil 32 is connected between the terminal 34 and the stationary contact 22. A blow-out magnet 35 is connected between the terminal 36 and the stationary contact 21, the poles 3'? of this blow-out magnet extending on each side of the blow-out chute.

In Fig. 1, the parts are shown in full lines in their off position. By means of the handle 40 the arm 28 may be moved counterclockwise from the full line position to the dotted line position, when the pawl 30 drops into the notch 25. In this movement of the arm to the dotted line position, the spring 29 is wound up, and the disk 14 and its attached parts remain at rest. The handle 4:0 may now be released to allow the spring 29 to move the arm 28 in a clockwise direction. In this clockwise movement the arm 28 carries the disk 14 and associated parts with it because of the engagement between the pawl 30 and the notch 25. lVhen the arm 28 reaches the position shown in Fig. 2, with the brushes l7 and 18 in engagement with the contacts 21 and 22 respectively, the pawl 31 drops into the notch 27 to prevent further clockwise movement of the arm 28 and disk 14. The switch is now closed, the circuit being from the terminal 36 through the blow-out coil 35, contact 21, brush 17 ring 16, brush 18, contact 22, overload coil 32 to the terminal 3 1. The switch may now be tripped manually by pulling out the knob 33 to raise the pawl 31 out of the notch 27. Or, in case of an overload, the overload magnet 32 will lift the pawl 31 out of said notch. In either case the lifting of the pawl 31 out of the notch releases the disk 1 1 and arm 28 and the spring 29 moves said parts clockwise to a position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 1 but with each brush moved clockwise the angular distance between two adjacent brushes. As the switch opens the brush 17 first leaves the stationary contact 21, the are taking place between the arcing tips 20 and 23' and being forced outwardly along the chute 13 by the flux from the blow-out magnet 35. The brush 18 does not leave the contact 22 until after brush 17 has left the contact 21, so that all of the arcing will occur at the place where means are provided for extinguishing it. WVith the switch now in open position, the operation above described may be repeated. The disk 14 moves always in a clockwise direction, so that the brushes 17, 18 and 19 co-act successively with the contacts 21 and 22 respectively, and the notches 25, 26 and 27 are successively engaged by the pawls 30 and 31 respectively. \Vhen the switch is opened all of the arcing takes place between the arcing tip 23 and the arcing tips 20 of the movable brushes, these tips being readily replaceable. No pitting occurs on the surfaces of the contacts that first engage or that are in engagement in a normal closed position of the switch.

Many modifications in the precise arrangements here shown and descibed may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and all such I aim to cover in the following claims.

That I claim as new is 1. In combination in a circuit-breaker, fixed and movable contacts, a reciprocable arm, mechanical connections between said arm and said movable contact whereby reciprocation of the former produces unidirectional rotation of the latter both to open and to close the circuit, and an overload magnetcontrolling the circuit-opening part of said rotation.

2. In a circuit-breaker, the combination of fixed and movable contacts, a manually movable reciprocable arm biased in one direction, mechanical connections between said arm and said movable contact for causing unidirectional rotation of the latter both to open and to close the circuit upon reciprocation of the former, and an overload magnet controlling the circuit-opening part of said rotation.

3. In a circuit-breaker, the combination of a fixed contact, a plurality of movable contacts rotatable about an axis, a reciprocable arm, mechanical connections whereby said movable contacts cooperate successively with said fixed contact upon successive reciprocations of said arm and each complete reciprocation of said arm positively moves a movable contact into and out of engagement with said fixed contact, and an electromagnet for controlling the disengagement of the fixed and movable contacts.

4. The combination in acircuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a rotatable member carrying a contact, a reciprocable arm arranged to 1'0- tate said member positively always in the same direction to bring said two contacts into and out of engagement, and an over load magnet for controlling the disengagement of said contacts.

5. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a rotatable contact arranged. to engage said fixed contact at one part of its rotation, a spring, and a reciprocable arm arranged to rotate said rotatable contact in one direction into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said rotatable contact in the same direction out of engagement with said fixed contact.

6. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a rotatable contact arranged to engage said fixed contact at one part of its rotation, a spring, a reciprocable arm arranged to rotate said rotatable contactin one direction into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said rotatable contact in the same direction out of engagement with said fixed contact, and an electromagnet controlling the latter part of said rotation.

7. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a rotatable contact arranged to engage said fixed contact at one part of its rotation, a spring, a reciprocable arm arranged to rotate said rotatable contact in one direction into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said rotatable contact in the same direction out of engagement with said fixed contact, a latch normally preventing the latter part of said rotation, and an electromagnet for rendering said latch ineffective.

8. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a plurality of movable contacts rotatable about an axis to engage said fixed contact successively, a spring, and a reciprocable arm arranged to rotate said movable contacts in one direction to bring one of them into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said movable contact farther in the same direction to cause disengagement between said fixed and movable contacts.

9. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a plurality of movable contacts rotatable about an axis to engage said fixed contact successively, a spring, a reciprocable arm arranged to rotate said movable contacts in one direction to bring one of them into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said movable contact farther in the same direction to cause disengagement between said fixed and movable contacts, and an electromagnet controlling the latter part of said rotation.

10. The combination in a circuit-breaker, of a fixed contact, a plurality of movable contacts rotatable about an axis to engage said fixed contact successively, a spring, a

reciprocable arni arranged to rotate said movable contacts in one direction to bring one of them into engagement with said fixed contact and to put said spring under strain tending to rotate said movable contact farther in the same direction to cause disengagement between said fixed and movable contacts, a latch normally preventing the latter part of said rotation, and an electromagnet for rendering said latch ineffective.

11. In a circuit-breaker, the combination of a fixed contact, a movable contact, reciprocable means for positively rotating said movable contact unidirectionally to both open and close the circuit, and an electromagnet for controlling the circuit-opening part of said rotation.

12. In a circuit-breaker, the combination of a fixed contact, a movable contact, reciprocable means for positively rotating said movable contact unidirectionally to both open and close the circuit, a latch for normally preventing the circuit-opening partof said rotation, and an overload magnet for rendering said latch inoperative.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM J. LIETZ-ENMAYER. lVitnesses:

FLORENCE E. JMAOOARY,

FRED J. KINsEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

